Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-01-06
WATERING STOCK.
The ACCESSIBILITY of Supply ing Tepid Waited
During tho Winter Months.

We think the Importance of a good
supply of pure water for stock Of all
kinds. in winter. is much better under
stood now than it was forty or
fifty years ago. We can recall some Of
the disadvantages under which stock
labored, at that time, quite wildly.
The winter supply of water, for cattle
especially, was often in the nearest
swamp, perhaps from one hundred to
one hundred and sixty rods from the
barn. When the swamp froze over it
became regular chore every morning
TO 60 down to the swamp and cut sew
eral holes in the ice for the cattle to
drink in. For this purpose it was
thought best to keep an old AK near 1T
hand and, to give the cattle a better
chance, an old shovel with which To
clean out the pieces of ice. As tee ice
froze thicker and thicker the surface of
they water sank deeper and deeper below
the surface of the ice, and cattle could
only reach it with increasing difficulty.
Ii there were snow on the ground it be-
came still more difficult for cattle to
reach the water with their mouths. We
have seen them compelled to- kncel
down in order to reach it. When they
reached it it was but little above freez-
ing temperature, and they drank it
slowly and with reluctance. The water
was from sixty to sixty-five degrees be-
low the temperature of their bodies and
filling their stomachs with such cold
water often caused them to- shiver.
Moreover, to raise the temperature of
that cod water to nearly one hun
dred degrees, the normal tempera-
ture of the animals body, consumed
quite an amount of heat that must be
made up for, either in the fats of their
systems or the carbon In their food.
Hence quite proportion of their daily
rations went to replace the heat wasted
in raising icy water to animal tempera-
ture. We can see how this would cause
shrinkage in milk in u cow or loss of
flesh in any animal.
There was another thing in this con-
nection we can recall. When there
was deep snow upon the ground the
cattle would break a path through it
with much reluctance, and it would be
a narrow path, admitting but one ami
v,
when the cattle started for the water,
the master would lead and they would
follow with almost as much sticking
for right of precedence as the members
of the royal household and the aristoc-
racy of Great Britain contend for their
places on occasions of state ceremony.
While the leaders were drinking, those
behind would remain standing in the
path and when the first served were
ready to return to the barn, it not in
frequently happened that the rcalmost
cattle, rather than turn out into the
deep show, would return to the barn
without water. We trust that the num-
Der of farmers who water their cattle
in such Il way, now, is very small.
1t is quite probable that large pro-
portion of the water drank by stock, in
winter, even in this progressive age, ID
not very much above the freezing
point, in very cold weather. Where it
is drawn from deep wells by wind-mills
or by hand pumps, it loses heat very
rapidly in open troughs and soon u
skim of ice appears over its surface.
The better way is to pump enough,
three times a day. for the stock, and
either carry it to them, in their stalls,
or lead them to their trough and see
that they have an opportunity to drink,
and then draw all the water from tho
trough. We are aware that this is a
good deal of labor, with a large stock,
but it pays TO bestow the necessary labor
upon stock; it certainly does not pay to
keep stock and neglect it.
OF late years, the question of warm
ing the water, in winter, for stock, has
been considerably. agitated. Expert
nsents have shown that milk cows will
give more milk and fattening stock
will gain more rapidly on tepid than
cold water, but, whether the water can
be heated more cheaply with wood or
coal, than with hay or grain, has not
been 30 clearly shown. If all the heat
were utilized to the very best advan-
tlge, we would suppose that the tenn
perature of the water could be raised
to the desired point with coal at one
fourth of Il cent Il pound, at less cost
than with hay at half cent or with
corn at a cent a pound, but, whether
much more heat of the coal, under the
water. than of the hay or grain in the
animals stomach, would not be wasted,
is more difficult question to decide.
We have little doubt that where
farmer milks Il few COWS in winter he
could heat enough water ut the kitchen
stove to raise the temperature of their
drink to the desired height without any
appreciable waste of fuel.
All these ecoaomical questions should
be studied by the farmer and deter
mined by careful experiment. Success
in farming. as well as in otheq kinds OF
business, can only be attained by the